Continental sales to Europe

Although we would never presume to predict where airfares are heading (we'll leave that for those with a more adventurous nature), we can tell you that airfares on many routes, both domestic and international, appear to have headed downward.

We recently saw, for example, peak summer travel from four cities (Toledo, Columbus, Cleveland, and Houston) to Dublin for the very surprising tax-included price of $430 round-trip. That's for July and August travel on Delta. These fares may actually be available as you read this, and if they are you'll see them listed on our "to Dublin" fares page.

Why are Ohio and Houston to Dublin fares so cheap on Delta? Could it be that Delta isn't pleased that Continental launched a pretty decent sale for summer travel to Europe? Cleveland and Houston are, after all, Continental hubs. Hard to say. The Continental sale is in both economy and BusinessFirst, with fares starting at $325 each way plus tax in economy and $899 each way plus tax in BusinessFirst. For economy fares, purchase by March 11 and travel May 16 to September 12 with a 14 day advance purchase and a Saturday night stay and a maximum 30 day stay. For BusinessFirst fares, travel outbound June 28 to September 4 and complete travel by September 11 with a 60 day advance purchase.

While some folks might still not consider these fares cheap, for nonstop travel during peak summer they're quite a bit lower than they were last year at this time. But the real deals are for spring travel through May 2. Take a look at Continental's sale, which others are matching in select markets. Newark/Paris for example is just $415 RT nonstop flights including tax. Continental isn't saying when this sale will end.